In November, DHRC SMS organized four round tables in the Mitrovica/Mitrovica North KP
region to discuss domestic violence issues. During each round table, a presentation was
given to the KP participants on international standards concerning the rights of women and
children, as well as regional legislation on domestic violence, roles of different stakeholders
in dealing with the issue, and problems and obstacles that might arise during the process.
The aim of the final round of round tables, organized in December, was to receive feedback
on the activities implemented by DHRC SMS for 2014. It also gave an opportunity for DHRC
SMS to conduct a needs assessment, which will be used for 2015 planning purposes. The
participants, newly integrated police officers and KP management, stated that the topics
discussed at the round tables were very useful for their daily work.
From April to December 2014, the DHRC Equality, Non-discrimination and Anti-trafficking
Section (ENA) supported the Kosovo Agency for Gender Equality and the Office of the
Kosovo Coordinators on Domestic Violence to conduct five two-day training workshops on
the newly adopted Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for Protection from Domestic
Violence across Kosovo. Overall, the five two-day trainings gathered approximately 213
representatives of the main domestic violence stakeholders and service providers, including
Kosovo Police – Domestic Violence Unit. The training workshops, which were facilitated by
DHRC ENA together with a selected group of trainers from the institutions themselves, aimed
to introduce the new SOPs the respective stakeholders and service providers and further
elaborate on their roles and responsibilities and on tools to improve the implementation of the
Kosovo Referral Mechanism for protection of domestic violence victims.
The DHRC Property Section (PS) supported the specialized KP Unit for Securing Cultural
and Religious Objects to design and print 7,000 informational leaflets (in Albanian, Serbian,
Turkish and English languages) on the rights and responsibilities of this unit with respect to
the protection of cultural heritage sites and the Special Protective Zones (SPZs) guarded by
the unit. The leaflet also contains practical info, i.e. telephone numbers of KP for addressing
activities affecting SPZs or other cultural and religious sites. The targeted audience of the
leaflet are residents leaving near SPZs areas and cultural heritage sites guarded by this unit
as well as KP officers at the local level.
In the period 13-24 October 2014, DHRC PS organized six workshops on illegal occupation
of properties of non-Albanian communities with representatives of Kosovo Property Agency
(KPA), KP and prosecutors. The aim of this activity was to discuss how the KP, in
co-operation with the prosecution, could prevent illegal re-occupation of the properties,
following the KPA evictions. The participants included 44 KP officers as well as KPA officers
and prosecutors.
In the period 18 September to 2 October 2014, five workshops of the DHRC Communities
Section (CS) brought together community representatives, civil society, Kosovo Police,
municipal leadership and relevant MCSC members to discuss community security concerns.
The
workshops
were
organized
in
Gjilan/Gnjilane,
Klinë/Klina,
Pejë/Peć,
Gračanica/Graçanicë and Rahovec/Orahovac. The five meetings provided an opportunity for
over 100 participants to discuss non-majority community security concerns and current and
potential actions to address them by municipal institutions and the Kosovo Police. All the
participating MCSC members, including Deputy Mayors, committed to regularly include nonmajority community concerns on the agenda of MCSC meetings. Discussion at the five
workshops reached the general conclusion that representatives of non-majority community
need to be more proactive and approach MCSCs with structured ideas on how their
concerns could be addressed by the authorities.
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